In many telephone connection hook-ups, it is necessary to provide a junction box in order to connect the telephone lines with the wiring of the telephone system to be hooked up. In addition, it is conventional practice to provide line protectors which connect either or both of the lines to ground in the event high voltages are applied to the telephone lines, as by a power line coming into contact with the telephone wires. The line protectors are generally provided in a separate protector box mounted adjacent the junction box. There is also commonly included a continuity checking high ohm resistor connected across the telephone lines, which enables remote checking of line continuity and this necessitates additional electrical connections to be made.
Therefore, a hook-up involves the mounting of two separate box structures, as well as a number of electrical connections, and the hook-up procedure is relatively time consuming for installation personnel.
There is a further particular disadvantage in establishing a marine or dockside telephone service installation, since the junction box here takes the form of a female receptacle mating with a corresponding locking male plug, connected to the wiring on the docked boat, which is unplugged each time the boat leaves dockside. Thus, relatively extensive electrical connections must be made to the female receptacle and to the junction line and ground terminals, as well as to the separate protector box. Also, the necessary electrical line connections to the continuity checking resistor, if incorporated, must be made.
In an effort to reduce the labor and components required in making such telephone service hook-ups, there has been provided in the past a junction box with the female receptacle portion formed integrally. In addition, it has been heretofore provided for a junction box in which the protector components have been incorporated with a mounting of a female connector plug in a common hook-up box. However, it has not heretofore been provided for such a telephone hook-up box in which the female connector structure has been successfully combined with an integral line protector mounting arrangement, as well as the continuity resistor line connections.
The provision of the female connector structure as a separate element in the assembly adds considerably to the cost of the assembly of that unit with a separate installation step involved in physically mounting the female connector and additional labor is involved in making the electrical connections from the contact elements of the female connector to the other electrical elements in the hook-up box.
Accordingly, it is the object of the present invention to provide a telephone hook-up arrangement in which a female connector receptacle is an integrated component of a telephone hook-up box and in which all of the necessary electrical connections are provided by a minimum number of electrical contact elements such as to yield a combined junction-protector box assembly requiring only the electrical connections made to the telephone lines and grounding circuit, and the mounting of a single box in order to establish such telephone service with a minimum number of components and installation labor.